Friday, May 1, 2009

As ideal a candidate Guy Carbonneau was to serve as head coach in Montreal, Robinson is even more so because he's actually been a head coach before. And not only has he been a head coach, but he's been a winning one as well (actually, his career coaching record is 209-217-69-6, but that included four years as coach of a pretty bad Los Angeles Kings team).

Robinson is currently employed as a "special assignment coach" for the New Jersey Devils, which looks like it's the best job in hockey. Pat Burns also has the same title, which allows him to live in Tampa and scout Lightning games at his leisure. The Devils also have Scott Stevens, Jacques Lapperière and Chris Terreri who serve the same function, whatever that function is.

I'm pretty surprised to see RDS reporting that Robinson would be interested in the Habs job because, if memory serves me correctly, he had to leave the coaching ranks because of health issues that were related to the day-to-day stress of the job. If he was stressed coaching in New Jersey, I can't imagine how he would react to the maelstrom of Montreal.

But if he's up for it, Robinson fits all the necessary criteria to serve as Habs coach. He speaks pretty decent French, which was rusty when he was in town for his jersey retirement, but still passable. And it would very likely improve with time just as Bob Gainey's has since he was hired.Otherwise, his temperament, passion for winning and reputation as both a player and coach make Robinson perfect for the job, assuming he actually wants it. But until I hear Robinson say it himself, and not simply "selon ce que RDS a appris," I still have some doubts that's in fact the case.

I was also extremely pleased to read that the Canadiens have approached Guy Boucher to take over the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Drummondville Voltigeurs head coach has weaved a magical season and coaxed performances out of Yannick Riendeau and Dany Massé that earned the two of them contracts with the Boston Bruins and the Habs, respectively.

Boucher was a guy I was thinking would be a strong candidate for the Montreal job, only to avoid giving it by default to Bob Hartley or Marc Crawford. But in an ideal world, an apprenticeship in the AHL would be perfect for Boucher while he waits for the ideal moment to move to Montreal.

In the meantime, who better to handle the Canadiens job than Larry Robinson?

Incompetenty and innefectiveness from Gainey throught the years were signs that any hopes in seeing an up-scaled version of our organization and teams in Montreal would remain vain as long as he would be the man in charge of our destiny...... shure Robinson would be a descent option if availlable as a coach but without up-grading the manegarial habilities from within our organization we are condemned to run in circle for ever and ever.

Who you're reading

I'm a freelance sports reporter working in Montreal who has covered the Habs since 2000. I used to be obsessed with the Canadiens by choice, and for free. Now I'm paid to do the same thing. It's pretty sweet.